Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Michael's Choice
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Already, six loafer boys and girls were gathered around the table.
Lilia, sitting in the center, smiled at me and waved.
“How do you play the game?”
Lizbet quickly claimed a seat and sat down, asking in an excited voice. Riki sat beside her and explained with a gentle expression.
“It’s not hard. You just pick one of the two cups.”
Two gold cups, opaque so you couldn’t see inside, sat overturned on the table.
It must have been Lilia’s turn right then, because she picked up where Riki left off.
“Princess, do you know about ‘Saturn’s Diamond’? The diamond the Saturn trading company just imported from Lubon?”
“Yeah, of course. It’s super famous.”
Its current market price was about 400 million marks, as far as I knew, but it wasn’t available on the open market.
If it went to auction, rich nobles would drive up the bids, so there was no need to sell it at market value.
It was probably the top prize contender for next month’s official auction house.
“I want it.”
Lilia pointed at the two gold cups.
“If I pick the right one of these two cups, I win. Saturn’s Diamond is the prize, and the game participants promised to gift it to me.”
“Ah, got it. So what’s in the other one?”
“Conversely, I promised to give each participant a 50-million-mark piece of jewelry.”
Lizbet finally grasped the rules and parted her lips in dismay.
The participants included me and Lizbet for a total of nine. Which meant a deranged game where hundreds of millions were on the line, right in front of our eyes.
But to these rich little brats gathered here, it was just a familiar, nothing-special pastime.
“Then I’ll pick.”
Lilia pondered for a long moment before opening the left gold cup.
She unfolded a slip of paper a bit smaller than her palm, grinned, and showed it to us.
[Michael’s Choice]
—that’s what it said.
“I picked Angel Michael’s Choice, so I win.”
Lilia opened the other cup she hadn’t chosen and showed the slip to Lizbet.
[Lucifer’s Choice]
“If I’d picked this one, I would’ve lost.”
“Uh-huh. I get how it works now.”
Lizbet’s eyes wavered.
She’d become a participant the moment she sat down, so now she might have to procure Saturn’s Diamond for Lilia.
At that moment, Cedric chuckled. He’d been sitting next to Lilia, long legs crossed, striking a cool pose.
“No need to worry, everyone. I was going to buy that diamond for Lilia anyway.”
“Ooh...!”
“As expected of young master Cedric!”
“So cool!”
The loafer brats around the table squealed and cheered.
Tap tap.
Riki tapped the table a couple of times to draw attention, then asked Lizbet,
“Next is your turn, Princess. Is there anything you want?”
“Uh? Me? I don’t really...”
“People usually ask for expensive jewels or artwork, but it doesn’t have to be an object.”
Riki smiled kindly as he spoke, and Lilia jumped in right away, as if she’d been waiting.
“How about Riki escorting you for the entire party today...?”
“What?!”
Lizbet’s eyes, lighting up for a split second, went wide.
“I-Is that allowed?”
“Of course. You can ask for anything you want. Is that what you’d like?”
Riki tilted his head slightly with a smile.
Soft blond hair fluttered over his pale face, making him look just like an angel...
*Sigh, really. Devil, devil.*
I knew Riki’s true intentions, so I shook my head inwardly.
“Then what should Lucifer’s Choice be?”
“This game’s all about the extreme stakes...”
Riki pretended to think for a moment, then let out an “Ah!”
“You were really looking forward to the party today, weren’t you, Princess? So if you pick Lucifer’s Choice, you head home right then and there. How’s that?”
“Wh-what?”
*I knew it.*
Lizbet was a hassle, but as royalty, they couldn’t outright ignore her, so they had to play along.
Riki, finding her very existence a headache, had come up with this scheme—just to get rid of her fast.
“Th-that’s too extreme...”
“But if the choices aren’t balanced, it’s no fun. If you’re scared of losing, you can forfeit.”
Riki pouted, feigning disappointment.
I swallowed a sigh as I watched Lizbet start biting her nails in thought.
*What’s so great about that pretty-faced jerk anyway?*
I just couldn’t understand it. I’d finally gotten her to the party, and now she was seriously agonizing over *this*...
I clicked my tongue inwardly, then paused and mocked myself.
*Yeah, it’s ridiculous for me to pity Lizbet. I know that feeling better than anyone.*
Hadn’t I fallen for this damn game dozens of times?
I slowly scanned the brats giggling like it was so amusing.
Their mocking voices echoed clearly in my ears.
“Will our Duchess Rubette’s choice be it? Can she kiss Cedric Raizer?!”
“Get ready and reveal!”
“Kyahaha...! Lucifer again!”
“No kiss for you!”
“Oh my, so we get to see our Ruby’s fabulous butt dance again today?”
No matter what, Rubette always drew Lucifer’s Choice.
Every party, she had to climb on stage and shake her butt in some ridiculous getup.
She’d once made an elephant trunk with her nose and spun in place about twenty times, only to get so dizzy she faceplanted on the floor.
If humiliation brought tears to her eyes, they only enjoyed it more.
*Devil bastards.*
Yet Rubette never once forfeited the game.
Partly because they’d semi-threaten her into playing—“You trying to ruin the vibe?”—leaving her no choice.
*She really wanted to kiss Cedric just once. It was fifty-fifty odds, so she was sure Michael would turn up eventually.*
Propping my chin, I let out a soft chuckle and stared steadily at Cedric, sitting across from me.
*Purely liking someone is truly terrifying.*
The memory of Cedric comforting eight-year-old Rubette, sobbing her eyes out, loomed far too large.
She’d clung to it her whole life, just to hear that kind voice one more time...
“Duchess Rubettria, right?”
“Why are you crying alone here?”
Rubette met Cedric at the mask festival held for the national holiday—and fell head over heels in love.
“You have a tear mole. Is that why you cry so much?”
“When you grow up, I’ll come propose.”
That Cedric had been kind, gentle, and a little innocent. Hard to believe he’d grown into such a shithead.
*Does that bastard even know the cheap necklace he bought from a junk shop to cheer her up became Rubette’s treasure for all 45 years of her life?*
I wanted to chuck it in the sewer right then, but I couldn’t—not when Rubette had cherished it so.
“Sigh.”
Snapping out of the memory, I turned back to Lizbet.
*You too, huh. Already fallen in deep—what can you do? Can’t even control your own heart.*
Seeing her finally nod with resolute eyes, steeling herself to play the game, I let out a sigh.
“The Princess will play. Shuffle them.”
Lilia snickered and ordered the attendant servant standing nearby.
The servant placed one slip in each gold cup, then shuffled them back and forth across the table several times.
Lizbet stared wide-eyed at the two cups, while the devils exchanged glances, stifling their laughter as they watched her.
“Now pick.”
“I-I...”
Riki used a gentle gesture to draw the two distant cups right up to Lizbet.
*Whichever she picks, it’s Lucifer.*
Poor expectant Lizbet—but Michael was never landing in her hands.
I’d played this game dozens of times and never once drawn Michael. And that wasn’t coincidence.
“Left!”
“Left one?”
Could I call foul and void it?
No. There were no referees in this game. Besides, it was rigged from the start for the devils’ amusement.
The one who always drew Lucifer every single time—if I suggested peeking at the other cup out of curiosity...
*They’d frown, curse, throw a fit about the ‘rules.’*
I shot to my feet and snatched the slip from the left cup before Riki—who’d opened it—could grab it.
Everyone’s eyes locked onto me.
“This is the one you picked, right, Princess?”
“Uh? Y-yeah.”
I met each puzzled devil’s gaze one by one, flashed a bright smile, and stuck out my tongue.
Then, blatantly, I set the slip on my tongue and soaked it with saliva.
“Hey!”
Riki jumped to his feet in an instant.
I turned to him, rolled the slip around in my mouth to wet it thoroughly, then—
Gulp.
“...!”
Swallowed it.
Riki’s jaw dropped.
Lizbet jolted in shock.
“Wh-what are you doing? Why’d you eat that, Rubette?”
I took a sip of the cocktail beside me, smirked, and said,
“It’s fun.”
“What?! No, why... If you swallow it, we can’t check!”
“Why not?”
Playing it cool, I pointed at the other cup Lizbet hadn’t chosen.
“There’s Michael and Lucifer anyway, so just check this one.”
“Ah!”
“Right, Riki?”
I grinned at the ashen-faced Riki.
“If this slip says Lucifer, then the Princess picked Michael.”
The other devils—who knew both were Lucifer—had faces worth watching.
*Did you think I’d keep falling for this scam forever?*
After sweeping my gaze over the brats, who were sneaking glances at each other and fake-coughing, I turned back to Riki.
“Open it.”